


The Gateroom Was On Fire When I Walked Into It

by tielan



Category: Merlin (TV), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crack, Drama, Gen, Humor, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-17
Updated: 2011-10-17
Packaged: 2017-10-24 17:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/265938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Pendragon wasn't expecting trouble when he took his team out into the field on their first solo mission. However trouble has a habit of finding Gate teams out of Atlantis...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gateroom Was On Fire When I Walked Into It

**Author's Note:**

> Someone requested the Merlin OT4 as an Atlantis Gate team. This is the result. It may or may not make sense. There are dragons involved. And, uh, I have no idea how to justify Merlin-the-Ancient vs. Merlin-the-scarecrow...so I'm not going to. Um, le'ts all play pretend...
> 
> The title is a reference to Robert Fulghum's book "The Bed Was On Fire When I Laid Down on It" which is generally about life, the universe, and everything.

Arthur Pendragon hadn’t been expecting trouble. As newcomers to Atlantis were told on their first day in the city, one shouldn't _expect_ trouble.

At least, that was what he presumed Dr. McKay had been trying to say amidst the dire predictions of death, destruction, and general stupidity that had been in the man's speech that day, because if the message had been ‘you will all die screaming’ then way to fuck up the pep talk!

Anyway, McKay had survived five years in Pegasus, and the man was more aggravating than Merlin, who at least had a sunny disposition and insane optimism going for him, so how hard could it be?

At any rate, Arthur hadn’t been _expecting_ trouble - but he’d been prepared for it, all the same.

And nervous. Two of the last four teams to go out had encountered Wraith, and the third had gotten into a fight with the locals that ended badly. This was Arthur's first stint in command - his first time out with his own team instead of attached to someone else’s, and he was determined not to screw it up by getting into trouble.

Of course, that was before the dragon turned up.

"I mean, really, what are the odds?" Merlin called, far too chirpily for a man with his back to the enemy while working to rewire a DHD. "That evolution would produce an alien lifeform that looks so much like what we know as a dragon--"

"Merlin!" Arthur slammed his spare ammo cartridge into his P-90 and mentally scratched out Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. Beside him, Morgana's P-90 rattled in short bursts. "Less chatter, more fixing!"

"What's the matter, Arthur?" Morgana let off a few more bursts from her P-90 before glancing over her shoulder. "Did the dragon put a dent in your plans to return to Atlantis covered in glory?"

There had been many moments through the years when Arthur had been tempted to wring Morgana’s neck. Since he’d found himself staring at his foster-sister in the mess hall of the _Odyssey_ , though, those urges had grown considerably more frequent.

"Covered in glory?" Merlin questioned, brows arched.

"It means everyone thinks he's awesome."

"You mean everyone doesn't already?" The wide-eyed shock would have been more believable if not for the smirk Merlin flaunted like a blonde Swedish model date at a charity dinner.

"That's enough, you two." Arthur felt a warm curl in his stomach as Guinevere met his gaze with a wry smile before glancing over at Morgana. "Less teasing, more thinking of a way to bring down the dragon."

"Well, what we're doing isn't making a difference." Morgana frowned over the barrel of her weapon. "I'm not seeing any impact on those scales..."

"So perhaps use something a little stronger?"

"Well," said Morgana, smooth as silk, "I don’t know about you, Arthur, but I left my RPG in its holster back in the city--”

Arthur ground his teeth. His foster-sister did this a lot. It was probably the reason Sheppard had assigned her to Arthur’s team. That, and the fact that the American Colonel had it in for Arthur.

It wasn’t as though he’d done anything, either!

Okay, so there’d been the thing with the sausages and the whipped cream and the condoms... On reflection, it probably wasn’t Arthur’s best idea, but neither Merlin, nor Leon, nor Lancelot had said anything that indicated they thought it was a bad idea and Arthur ranked them and was the one Sheppard had it in for, so _he_ was the one who’d gotten the big dressing down.

All the more reason to get his team back in one piece.

"Then we'll concentrate our fire." He thought he was doing well to hold his temper.

“It must have a weak spot.” Everything in the known universe had a weak spot, from the Replicators to the Wraith. Of course, some weak spots were harder to find than others...

“I don’t see any weak spots. See any weak spots, Gwen?”

“Morgana!”

“What?” Huge green eyes went even huger and greener in affected innocence. “All I’m saying is that if it doesn’t have a weak spot...”

“All you’re doing is being smart, Morgana.” Only Gwen could get away with saying such a thing to Morgana without having the other woman snap back. Then again, only Gwen could say it with exasperation and reproof and still make it sound affectionate and tender. “Maybe the eyes?”

Like trying to thread a needle with a bullet. But it was the best option they had. “I guess the eyes have it.”

“Oh, that was bad, Arthur.” Merlin tossed over his shoulder. “Even for you.”

“What do you mean, ‘even for me’?"

Merlin didn't answer, too involved in doing whatever he did with the laptop and the DHD. Arthur figured now was not the time to hassle the other man. There was a reason Merlin was on McKay's hit list - usually involving the formulation of novel – and accurate - theories to explain otherwise inexplicable phenomenon in Atlantis.

Somewhat to Arthur's surprise, the rest of McKay's team seemed to find it hilarious - even Sheppard.

The next few minutes were devoid of actual conversation, although Merlin muttered to himself a lot without seeming to expect an answer, and Morgana and Arthur occasionally cursed as their shots failed to make any impact on the dragon.

"I got it!" Merlin's cry was a welcome relief. "It was-- Never mind. Dialling the city." He cut off the explanation, even as Arthur opened his mouth to order him to dial Atlantis.

Behind them, the Stargate chevrons began to lock, the sound echoing across the clearing.

In front of Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana, the dragon went beserk.

Already planted firmly at the forest end of the clearing, it thrashed around, tearing at trees and bushes, showering leaves, dirt, and pebbles over the SG team huddled down behind the rocks at the Stargate end of the clearing. Its roar was almost deafening, a bellow of fury that resonated unpleasantly in Arthur's bones.

 _We are so dead._

"Arthur, we're running out of ammo!" Morgana slammed a new cartridge in, her accent growing even thicker under the pressure. "This is my last."

Shaking dust out of his hair, and with a stinging cheekbone from a flying pebble, Arthur brushed his face across his arm. "Anyone got anything heavier?"

"Oh, I'll just check my handbag and see if I brought any extra munitions with me, shall I?"

Behind him, Arthur heard the sound of velcro tripping. A moment later, a slim brown hand appears over his shoulder. "Grenades. I've got two. Been saving them for a special occasion."

"Guinevere, you're a queen among women."

"Or just prepared." Her laughter sends shivers down his spine, or maybe that's the huff of her breath that teases the tips of his hair. Ridiculous, since the dragon's still tearing up the ground less than fifty yards away and there's plenty of breeze from _that_.

"How good's your aim?" He doesn't pull the pin on the grenade just yet. He'll wait until the Stargate's open and the IDC sent.

"Good enough. Approximate target?"

"You light a fire under its tail, I'll light one in its mouth. But hold off until we're cleared for the city. Merlin?"

"Still dialling," Morgana reported. "I hope your aim is better than it was the time you tried to put a rock through Tommy Hampton's window."

Arthur sent her a filthy glare. "I was ten!"

The glitter in her eyes is classic Morgana - in this case, Morgana taking revenge. "If I recall correctly, you said I threw like a girl."

"You did! Then." Of course, after Arthur had said that, Morgana got the rock through Hampton's window and smirked her way through her punishment, safe in the knowledge that she'd succeeded where Arthur had failed. "And yes, my aim is much better now!"

"Better hope so!"

"Morgana." Gwen's chiding earns her nothing more than a demure grin.

"Event horizon!" Merlin yells from behind them, and they all instinctively duck at the particle splashback. "Atlantis, this is Emrys. My team's coming in hot!"

"Scorching, in fact!" Morgana calls. How the hell Morgana ever made military - let alone stayed military - is beyond Arthur's understanding.

"It _will_ be scorching in a minute." Gwen taps Arthur on the shoulder, the smooth pink ovals of her nails pointing towards the dragon which seems to have decided that the open Stargate is an invitation or an insult. "Incoming!"

She's got the grenade in her hand - the pin's already pulled - and while Arthur would usually protest the appropriation of his shoulder as a stabilising point, her nails bite into his shoulder with a jolt that isn't exactly pain.

The grenade explodes in the air in front of the beast. It rears back, howling at the fire. But Gwen's shot has bought them no more than a few seconds. The dragon isn’t going to take long to regroup. It's enough time for Merlin to scoop up his laptop and grab their samples, for Gwen to haul Arthur to his feet, for him to drop the pin from the grenade…

It’s enough time for the dragon to draw breath...

 _Shit._

"Get through! Merlin, that's an order!"

Merlin lurches for the gate, Morgana lunging after in swift strides. Gwen's got her fingers in his pack straps as they stumble backwards, her weight both stabilising and destabilising him.

They've almost reached the gate when the air begins to explode around them. Arthur hurls the grenade with all his might into that inferno, then is half-dragged through the event horizon by Gwen's weight. Then there's only black space, spiralling light, and the spinning, dizzying journey of a thousand light years.

The wormhole spits them out, on fire, into Atlantis' gateroom.

He feels heat and cool. There’s smoke in his nostrils, and hair burning. Adrenaline incites panic, and instinct kicks in.

Arthur's already rolling as he hits the floor. He can hear Merlin yelling at the control room to bring up the shield over Gwen’s yelp of pain and Morgana’s stifled shriek. There's the scent of burning hair, and melted plastic, but the floor is cool and cold against when he comes to a stop on his side, just shy of the steps leading down from the gate platform.

His heart's pounding beneath his ribs, and his breath comes hard and rough in his lungs. Everything seems sharper, brighter, and slightly smoky. But nothing feels anything more than slightly bruised; Arthur Pendragon's alive - and so's his team.

"Pendragon? Should I ask what trouble you got into this time?"

He looks up two floors at the maliciously amused expression of his senior officer, who's jiggling a tilt-headed toddler in his arms, and keeping a firm grip so the kid won’t tumble out of his arms and off the balcony to the floor below. It should be a ridiculous sight; yet such is the power of Atlantis and the legendary Colonel John Sheppard that Arthur actually feels abashed when giving his answer.

"This time, sir? It's my first time out with my team!"

"From which you came back on fire - and, I should add, hugging your team-mates."

 _Hugging...?_

"Gwen!" Torran Emmagan waves cheerfully down at the woman that Arthur's rolled himself up against and actually has his arm flung over her waist and resting just under her...

In the scramble to extricate himself, Arthur nearly falls over. Hands catch him, dragging him up from an ignominious collapse.

Fucking bloody _wonderful_.

"This is your idea of returning covered in glory?" Morgana asks as she offers Gwen a hand up and leaves Merlin to restabilise Arthur.

"Well, ash, anyway," Arthur mutters.

"You got everyone home," Gwen says with a smile in his direction.

"Hey, _I_ got us home." Merlin pouts over at Gwen, who blushes beneath the rich mocha of her skin.

"Yes, of course you did," she says quickly. "And a brilliant save it was, too."

"Damned with faint praise," sighs Merlin, only to laugh when her expression turns slightly panicked. "It's okay, Gwen--"

"Pendragon." Heads jerk upwards to regard Colonel Sheppard, still watching them from the balcony. "If you’ve finished, you can clean yourselves off and be at the debriefing in an hour."

They snap to attention, chastened from their relieved spirits.

"Yes, sir."

Morgana's already linked arms with Gwen and the pair are strolling off in the direction of the transporter down to the city. Merlin grabs for his laptop and gear before an enterprising marine can pick it up and deliver it somewhere he probably doesn't want it sent.

Arthur takes a moment to glance back over the Gateroom, as though he might have left something behind in the mad dash for the Stargate.

"You coming?" Merlin asks from the stairs. Behind him, the girls' chatter echoes down the corridor of Atlantis, undaunted.

"Yeah," he says and turns away from the Stargate.

He's got all the important stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> My mental take on the OT4 is that Arthur's military - British SAS or something. Went out and covered himself in glory during Afghanistan, isn't allowed to talk about it. Meanwhile, Morgana was doing munitions and explody things and basically being terrifying with remote controls and things that go boom. Gwen was negotiating her way out of a number of different African and Middle Eastern languages. Merlin's brilliant thesis on the multidimensional string aspects of wormhole theory caught Radek Zelenka's eye, and he got Merlin transferred to the SGC and from there to Atlantis. Gwen followed shortly after, when she came to the notice of Daniel Jackson during a talk he was doing in London about degrees of the unknown and unknowable. He tossed a Gordian knot 'theoretical situation' and she cut it very neatly. Two days later, she's staring at the Stargate and wishing that her dad had known about UFOs before the asbestos poisoning finished him off eight years back. And God definitely has a sense of humour, because Arthur and Morgana got assigned to Atlantis at the same time - in the same troop boost that went over to Pegasus on the Odyssey. And she's been making his life hell ever since. (As Morgana puts it: what are sisters otherwise for?)
> 
> Geeze. That was almost as long as the story itself...


End file.
